Tag Archives: coal ash

The effort comes the day after revelations from the watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility that EPA has for years allowed coal ash industry representatives to edit official government reports, brochures, and fact sheets about coal ash to remove references to potential dangers and to emphasize alleged benefits.

â€œFor most of the past decade, it appears that every EPA publication on the subject was ghostwritten by the American Coal Ash Association,â€ says PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, who examined thousands of communications between the industry and EPA. â€œIn this partnership it is clear that industry is EPAâ€™s senior partner.â€

During the Bush administration, EPA entered into a formal partnership with the coal industryâ€”especially the ACAAâ€”to promote the use of coal ash for industrial, agricultural, and consumer products. The deal helped develop a multi-billion industry that is now fighting efforts to regulate the coal combustion byproductsâ€”which contain dangerous levels of heavy metals and other toxinsâ€”as hazardous waste.

Coal ash threatens the health of Delaware’s people and environment from one end of the state to the other.

Just yesterday, in Legislative Hall, we heard an absurd proposal to “process” coal ash in an incinerator in the City of Wilmington.Â (Again, per usual, this nutty idea is promoted by “Clean Air Council.”)Â The promoters, Palmetto Energy Group, said they want to melt it and make “decorative tiles.”

Action to regulate coal ash as the hazardous waste it really is, is being blocked by lobbying at the White House (Office of Management and Budget) level.Â Many examples can be found on the OMB website, including repeated meetings including representatives of DuPont. Continue reading →